Decline of Workplace Productivity

BLEH....can't stop thinking about the upcoming vacation and am loosing all will to be here at work.....probably started with an early morning session of NLHE on UB at the ultimatepoints table....dropped a buy-in (1000 points) when my AKs hit top pair and nut flush draw to a flopped set of 7s when the BB called my 200 point raise from LP with the pocket pair. He hit his set and I failed to improve, costing me the chips I had at the table....course, this all happened at 7:15 this morning, resulting in a quick shower, shave and race to the car to get to work 20 minutes late....

Been fairly successful at playing on the points tables, especially pot-limit Omaha...started with about 1200 in chips last week and am up to about 6000 after the loss this morning. Enough to 'buy' entry into some $5 and $10 tourneys on UB and try and hit some cash that way to start rebuilding the account before I reload. Hoping to find a timely tourney tonight after the girls head for bed if alan doesn't mind hanging out with me by the computer.

Exploring options to reload my cash account...looking at Firepay.com, as they charge a flat fee of $3.99 to transfer funds, rather than the 8% that netteller charges. May reload my pokerstars account soon with some ebay sales that I have made in the near future and start building a bankroll for the November trip to Vegas.

That's right....Jen and I are going to be in Vegas the first week of Nov (5-9) with Jen's sister and brother-in-law. Hoping we can take care of the babysitting for the kids for the week by calling in some family favors. Hard to believe that both girls will be in school then and Alan will most likely be walking...amazing how time flies.

Not much else to discuss...looking forward to the trip to SC for the weekend. Looks like sunny and 92 every day down there for the weekend, so that will be fun. I do have to take time out on Sat afternoon to play in a 50 man freeroll tourney online for a shot at a WSOP main event seat...can't beat those odds...free swag just for playing regardless, but man would I love a free trip to Vegas at the end of July.

Have a safe and happy 4th everyone.
ttfn

Slacking

Been awhile since my last post, so I figured I'd waste a few minutes beflre lunch updating on all kinds of things...be prepared for various topics....

- on the poker front...been playing in numerous freerolls and such on various sites attempting to qualify for WSOP seats or other various events/large tourneys. Have been fairly successful in getting through the first level of tourneys, only to get ousted in the second level with nothing to show for it. Still, I'm happy with my tourney play of late, as I feel I'm playing well and making good calls and reads in most instances. Usually been crippled or ousted from tourneys with the best hand going in, only to watch someone hit a OESD or flush to bust my flopped set or two pair...that's poker I guess.
- I did play in a small live game over the weekend...$5 Bachelor party tourney...8 guys playing. Unfortunatly I was the first busted from the tourney when my initial raise fom UTG with AA (15-30 blinds, raise to $100) was met by a re-raise to $300 from the college student next to me. Everyone folded and I pushed my remaining $700 into the table, to which he stated...."you know what, I'm going to call you"...which I happily said "OK" and flipped over my AA to his KK....elation crushed when the first card on the flop was a K, followed by a Q and J (two spades)...third spade hits the river, giving me a flush draw to my A of spades and a straight draw to the 10. Unfortunatly I missed everything and was bounced from the tourney. My only consolation is that the kid mis-managed the huge chip lead he had to get bounced in 4th with no cash...Dave (bachelor) and Tom (best man) ended up with the cash, so that was as it should be.
- Spent a good portion of yesterday looking at houses in Johnstown and Granville...saw a nice house from the 1920's in Johnstown that was very, very nice....pretty much a lateral move for us...not any bigger, residential lot, similar price range to our current house....but with no offers on our house, we're in a bit of a wait and see situation.
- Danielle and Ashley are currently on their first day of their Ocean Explorer's class through Danielle's pre-K school. Ashley was very excited to be going to school, so that will be fun to hear about later today.

Not much else to discuss....getting caught up on work projects and planning trips for July/August/September. Hoping to be in Vegas in November with Rick & Mary, which should prove to be a really fun time. Hope we can work out the details.

ttfn

The Good, Mediocre and Bad

Well - good news first...I passed my American Society of Quality Certification exam for Quality Auditors. Way cool. I was very stressed about the exam and passing, as it was not an easy exam. If it had ben memorizing facts and then answering factual questions, I would have been fine....but it was full of questions like, what is the BEST option given this scenerio type of stuff. And then three of the four options are pretty decent and you have to judge which is the best answer in the eyes of the dude that wrote the questions....regardless, I did well enough to pass and I am pretty stoked about the whole thing. Can't wait to tell the bosses here at work.

Mediocre - played in a 16 man two table shootout last night over at Bishop's house. As always, Bishop and Julie were fantastic hosts. Anyway, was able to win a couple of nice pots off of Bishop and got hiim to lay down a flopped two pair against my AQ when I hit the Q on the flop and moved all in on him...he read my body language as wanting him to call and convinced himself that I had flopped a set, so he folded. I had built a nice stack until my flopped two pair from the BB (5-7) ran into a short stack with an OESD that called my all in bet and hit his straight on the turn....river failed to help and I lost half my stack. I played pretty tight after that, trying to steal pots when I could and stay in the game. The guy that caught the straight draw ended up getting a bunch of chips dumped to him by a couple of short stacks that went all in with stellar hands like A3os and 5-9os on steals when he had something....ended up he and I heads up with him having about a 5-1 chip advantage. I won a couple of pots to get within 3-1 of him before he limped to my BB (2000-4000) and I check with 6-7os to see a flop of J-7-8...I push all in, figuring that he didn't have the jack or he would have pushed my BB (as he had been doing), he debates then calls with 8-2 suited and his pair of eights knock me out of the tourney. In hindsight, i should have raised his limp...but did respect the fact that he could have been baiting with something better than 6-7os...not exactly the powerhouse hand that I would have liked at that point. So...2 hours of live poker and I got my $20 back, so no harm done to the bankroll.

And the Bad - well...the 16 month run is over....my bankroll online is gone. 13 straight months of car payments, a trip to Vegas and numerous other gadgets around the house are all I have left to show for a pretty nice run ove rthe last 16 months. I'm going to take a break from online poker (with the exception of freerolls and such) and focus on getting the house sold and getting into the new place. Hopefully I'll get some expendible cash in the near future....dealing poker or hitting the lottery and will be able to reload without dipping into household funds. So...Unless any kind hearted reader wants to loan me some funds on one of the sites to get started again, I guess I'll be taking a break from grinding online for awhile. Leave comments if interested in donating to the "Reload Campaign for OhioMike".

ttfn

The Good, Bad and Mediocre

Well - good news first...I passed my American Society of Quality Certification exam for Quality Auditors. Way cool. I was very stressed about the exam and passing, as it was not an easy exam. If it had ben memorizing facts and then answering factual questions, I would have been fine....but it was full of questions like, what is the BEST option given this scenerio type of stuff. And then three of the four options are pretty decent and you have to judge which is the best answer in the eyes of the dude that wrote the questions....regardless, I did well enough to pass and I am pretty stoked about the whole thing. Can't wait to tell the bosses here at work.

Mediocre next - played in a 16 man two table shootout last night over at Bishop's house. As always, Bishop and Julie were fantastic hosts. Anyway, was able to win a couple of nice pots off of Bishop and got hiim to lay down a flopped two pair against my AQ when I hit the Q on the flop and moved all in on him...he read my body language as wanting him to call and convinced himself that I had flopped a set, so he folded. I had built a nice stack until my flopped two pair from the BB (5-7) ran into a short stack with an OESD that called my all in bet and hit his straight on the turn....river failed to help and I lost half my stack. I played pretty tight after that, trying to steal pots when I could and stay in the game. The guy that caught the straight draw ended up getting a bunch of chips dumped to him by a couple of short stacks that went all in with stellar hands like A3os and 5-9os on steals when he had something....ended up he and I heads up with him having about a 5-1 chip advantage. I won a couple of pots to get within 3-1 of him before he limped to my BB (2000-4000) and I check with 6-7os to see a flop of J-7-8...I push all in, figuring that he didn't have the jack or he would have pushed my BB (as he had been doing), he debates then calls with 8-2 suited and his pair of eights knock me out of the tourney. In hindsight, i should have raised his limp...but did respect the fact that he could have been baiting with something better than 6-7os...not exactly the powerhouse hand that I would have liked at that point. So...2 hours of live poker and I got my $20 back, so no harm done to the bankroll.

And the Bad - well...the 16 month run is over....my bankroll online is gone. 13 straight months of car payments, a trip to Vegas and numerous other gadgets around the house are all I have left to show for a pretty nice run ove rthe last 16 months. I'm going to take a break from online poker (with the exception of freerolls and such) and focus on getting the house sold and getting into the new place. Hopefully I'll get some expendible cash in the near future....dealing poker or hitting the lottery and will be able to reload without dipping into household funds. So...the run has been fun, but time to take a break from grinding online.

ttfn

UB $200k Tourney - Live Blogging

4:59pm - Will make an attempt to update as the tourney progresses...approaching 800 players at the moment. First pays $47k.

5:05 - first guy out on first hand (not me)....QQ raises to, guy in late position goes all in and gets called...KK vs QQ and KK takes the lead in the tourney....I had 10-Jos.

5:07 - win my first hand of the night....late position AQos, raise to 120, get one caller, flop comes A-K-4...check to me and they fold to my 100 chip bet...yeah me.

5:26 - just picked up 2 pots in a row...JJ and 33 won me small pots.....just lost a nice one with 55 though....down to 1800 in chips.

5:42 - just moved tables....sitting at 1700 in chips still very card dead.

6:26 - made it through the break and hit a nice run of cards...up to 7170 and in 42nd place.

6:50 - bounced around a bit....took a hit down to 3000 in chips, back up to 6220 now...still in top 100 with 414 left.

7:30 - So much for that....got busted with A-10os in the SB when I pushed pre-flop with 5000 in chips and was called by a guy with 6000 in chips and K-9os....he caught a K on the flop and the 10 on the trun didn't help me. Can't believe he made the call with K9os, but there you have it.

Moneymate - Blinds were 200-400, and I was sitting with about 5000...so my M was getting low. I really just wanted to pick up the blinds and the limp in....very surprised that he called with 90% of his stack with K9os.

ttfn

Sunday tourney, here I come

Can't figure out how to post the screen shot...but just finished taking down a satellite to the Sunday $200 tourney on UB ($200k added) at 5pm. 90 players already registered, so I'm hoping it doesn't get too big...I am super stoked though to play for some serious cash....especially after the last few days at the limit tables went...could use an infusion of cash into the bankroll.

Time to get some work done around the house....wheeee.

ttfn

for your viewing pleasure

A lost buy in ($25) in one hand on UB....

Hand #32405341-170 at Franklin (No Limit Hold'em)Powered by UltimateBetStarted at 07/Jun/06 22:57:10
MVilla888 is at seat 0 with $37.15.
7daytheory is at seat 1 with $40.55.
A_Fool is at seat 2 with $50.05.
Daddy_2A is at seat 3 with $74.50.
fourfours is at seat 4 with $51.
RUMOR is at seat 5 with $39.80.
The button is at seat 5.
MVilla888 posts the small blind of $.25.
7daytheory posts the big blind of $.50.
MVilla888: Kd Kc7
daytheory: -- --
A_Fool: -- --
Daddy_2A: -- --
fourfours: -- --
RUMOR: -- --
Pre-flop:
A_Fool folds.
Daddy_2A calls.
fourfours folds.
RUMOR calls.
MVilla888 raises to $3.25. (figured to win the pot right here with this bet with the way the table was playing)
7daytheoryfolds.
Daddy_2A calls. (he's rebought once after I busted him early, but has busted some terrible players to rebound)
RUMOR folds.

Flop (board: 4d 2s 6s):
MVilla888 bets $7.50. Daddy_2A calls.

Turn (board: 4d 2s 6s 5s):
MVilla888 goes all-in for $26.40. Daddy_2A calls.

River (board: 4d 2s 6s 5s Kh):
(no action in this round)

Showdown:
MVilla888 shows Kd Kc.MVilla888 has Kd Kc 6s 5s Kh: three kings.
Daddy_2A shows Js 7s.Daddy_2A has Js 7s 2s 6s 5s: flush, jack high.
Hand #32405341-170 Summary:
$3 is raked from a pot of $75.30.Daddy_2A wins $72.30 with flush, jack high.
----------------------------------------------------------------
Any thoughts on how to play this differently....then the guy berates me for keeping his money for so long and knowing he'd get it back from me....WTF?

ttfn

Poker update

Played some more .25/.50 NL on UB last night...made about $10 on a very aggressive table that saw me playing pretty tight. I sat down with $25 and two guys at the table had over $75 and were taking turns bullying the table....I waited until they bullied while sitting on KK and took the guys for most of the profit that I had for the session. Really having to adjust my playstyle to NL from Limit....much tighter hand selection and less chasing of flushes and such. But fun none the less. I have worked the $18 that I had left on UB up to $90 in the past week or so, so that is encouraging.

Played in a freeroll as well last night....had preregistered for the event and then forgot about the 10pm start time....figured by 10:20 I had been cleaned off the table, but was still sitting there getting blinded down....proceeded to play for about an hour (so much for going to bed early), working my way into the top 10 with about 130 players left. Lost about half my stack (blinds 200-400, sitting with 8k) when my AKs failed to improve against one of the chip leaders and I folded to his river bet. Two hands later I get 33 UTG and decide to push and see what happens...other big stack on the table (20k) calls me with 55 and I fail to improve. I'm thinking that if I hadn't lost the chips on the AK, the 8k push probably would have had him fold the 55 and I would have picked up the blinds and stayed in, but I was tired and really didn't care.

There's another freeroll at 9 tonight that I'll hit to try again. This one is on Titan, so we'll see how it goes, as I normally have good luck on Titan.

Also...rented a couple of movies last night....Hostel and Doom....enjoyed Doom, as I am a fan of the game and the special effects were pretty cool. Hostel wasn't as scary as everyone had made it our to be...just typical Tarantino-esque blood and gore....however I did appreciate the additional topless scenes in my unrated version....very nice.

ttfn.

Black Monday

Grrr.....had a post all finished during lunch today...but posted it on the Family site...In the process of trying to get it off that blog and onto this one, I lost it. Bloody heck.


Anyway, only pertinant thing regarding poker is that I lost two buy-ins yesterday as I was lounging by myself in the house...Jen and the kids are on their annual vacation in Toledo for the next two weeks and I figured I'd have nice quiet house to play some poker....which was the case except for the deluge of missed flops, flush chasing river rats and just general garbage play that was very effective in reducing my bank-roll by $400 over the course of two hours. Was never able to get ahead in either session, starting from loosing the first significant hand in each session and slowly falling to zero.....how crushing.

I also played in a couple of freerolls on UB...didn't get anywhere with them, so no biggie there. Will probably attempt to skip playing poker tonight and get the rest of the house cleaned up.

ttfn.